Bubble cap fastening means



G. w. PLqssL EIAL BUBBLE CAP FASTENING MEANS July 14, 1953 Filed July 19, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTORs, Gaze if. 1%! and i in! bile! s...w. PLOSSL ETAL. 2,645,469 'BUBBLE CAP FASTENING MEANS July 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 19, 1952 fillllllrll I! III I INVENTORIS, 7% 7103.7] and m 15'. Ice? zz/M 9 7:44.

ATTORNEYS Patented July 14, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT f OFFICE m l 2,645,469 f I,

BUBBLE CAP FASTENING MEANS George W. Plossl, West Springfield, and William E. Leety, Longmeadow, Mass., assignors toGilbert & Barker Manufacturing Company, West Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 19, 1952, 'Serial No. 299,792

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improved fastening means for use-in holding a bubble cap to its chimney; and the latter to the floorplate of a tray of afractionating tower. l The invention has for an object the provision in a bubble cap;assembly of improved fastening means for holding the-parts together by clampe ing, which is effected by a bolt and in such a manner that all parts including cap, chimney and clamping elements maybe mounted on or demounted from the floor of a bubble tray, rapidly and conveniently, by a single operator working from a position above the floor.

More particularly, the invention has for an 9 object the provision'of a member, which isadapted to rest upon the upper end of the chimney, spanning across the chimney opening, and which has means for engaging'the hold-down bolt, near its upper end, and temporarily supporting it centralized in the chimney, while the cap is placed over the threaded upper end of the bolt and positioned in. proper spaced relation with the chimney and while the retaining nutis applied to the upper end of the bolt.

The invention also has for an'object the provision in a bubble cap assembly of a temporary supporting means for the hold-down bolt, which means also serves to support the cap from the chimney, spaced vertically and horizontally therefrom. I p V The invention will be disclosed with reference to the illustrative embodiment of it in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. lis a sectional elevational view of a hubble-cap assembly embodying the invention;

Fig.2 is abottom plan, view thereof; l

5 at its ends to abut the lower face of this plate. Preferably also, the upper part of the cross bar is adapted to enterthe opening 3 and has vertical shoulders 6 near its ends to engage the inner surface of the peripheral wall I of such opening. The chimney 8 at its lowerend encompasses the upstanding wall I and hasan out-turned base flange 9, resting on a suitable gasket I0, which in turn rests on plate 4. The T-bolt fastening member I, 2 is adapted to be put in place following the mounting of the chimney 8 on plate 4 The operator, holding bolt I by its upper end, tilts it and the cross bar 2 until the latter can. enter and pass through and below the chim ney. Then the bolt I must be held in upright position, coaxially of the chimney, with the shoulders 5 of the cross bar located below and approximately parallel with plate 4 and with the shoulders 6 preferably partially entering the lower end of the opening 3 or at least positioned so. as to, do so, when the bolt I is subsequently. drawn up by the tightening of a nut II applied to the threads I2- on the upper end thereof.

The invention provides a member I3 for temporarily supporting the T-bolt fastener I, 2 from the upper end of chimney 8, while the cap I4 is being placed in position and nut II is being applied to the'threads I2 of bolt I. This memsupported by. the upper end of the chimney. This member I3 has a centrally-located U-shaped portion I5, providing a lateral, open-ended slot Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken onfthe line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view drawnto a larger scale and showing a stamping from which the hold-down-bolt supporting and cap supporting and spacing means is formed; 9 Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a bubble capassembly showing a modification in the form of the combined hold-down-bolt-supporting and cap spacing and supporting means; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view taken on the line 6-43 of Fig.5. j Referring to these drawings and first to Fig. 1

thereof; the bubble-cap fastening means includes a hold down bolt 1, which is suitably fixed to, and centrally between the ends of, a cross bar 2; commonly called a strong back. The cross bar 2 is adapted to span anopening 3 in the floor plate 4 of a bubble tray and hashori'zontal shoulders l6 of a width such as to slidably fit'a cylindrical portion IT on the shank of bolt I near the upper end thereof. The widthof this slot is, however, less than the outside diameter of the screw threads I21 At the intersection of the parts I2 and ll of bolt I (Fig. 1) is a shoulder I8. While the operator holdsbolt I by its upper and screw threaded end in the position above described, he

moves the member I3 laterally to carry the U-shaped part I5 into the partially-encompassing relation with the part I'I that is shown in Fig. 3. He then, releases. his hold on the bolt, allowing it to drop until shoulder I8 rests on the upperend face of the U-shaped portion I5, by which the bolt is'supported, during application of the cap I4 and nut II. The bolt, when thus sup ported, will have its threaded end positioned sufiiciently high to pass through the central hole in the cap and project above the same far'enough to allow the nut to be applied thereto.

. Preferably, the" member I3 's also made to 7 cap and chimney.-

for the cap I4. As shown in Fig. 3, this member I3 consists of a. plurality of arms I9 radiating from the central U-shaped portion I and the outer end of each arm (Fig. 1) has a horizontal shoulder 20, which is adapted to rest upon the upper end face of'chimney 8. The cap rests upon the upper edge 2| of each arm. The outer ends 22 of the arms I9 engage the peripheral wall of the cap and center it, as shown in Fig. 3, withreference to the bolt-receiving portion I5 .of the supporting structure I3. The arms'I9 haveve'r-' tical shoulders 23 (Fig. 1)."which engage the inner surface of the. peripheral wall of chimney- 8 and locate the structure I3, and in particular the portion I5 thereof, in proper'coaxial relation with the chimney.

Conveniently, the supporting structure .I3v isga made up from stampings of thin sheet metal.

One of these stampings is shown at 24in Fig. 4',

on a scale which is twice that of Fig. 3. One stamping, such as shown, is bent into the shape shown in Fig. 3 and thus forms two of the'arms IFand-"the integral, connecting U-shape'diporti'onI5. Another stamping 24 of the same size and' shape is out along the dotted line to form two s'ingle'arms I9. One such single arm has its inner end overlapped on one side of the U-shaped partI5 of the two-armed part and suitably secured thereto, as for example by welding. Thus, with three stampings 24, two of the structures I3 can be formed.

V Conveniently also, the shoulder I8 on the holddown bolt I may be formed without any material. additional expense as an incident to the formation of the screw threads I2 by rolling. Preliminary to thescrew-threa'd rolling operationthe upper end of the bolt I is run into an extruding die to reduce it to the diameter of the part 11, which is the'proper diameter for the L formation of the threads I2 by rolling, the rolling operation pressing out the metal as screw threads. Ordinarily, only so, much of the bolt is run into the extruding die as is to be screw threaded. In this case, an additional length of the bolt is-run into the die but only a part of it is. subjected to. the screw-thread rolling opera tion, thus forming the part I7. below the screw threads I2 and the shoulder I8 at. the intersectionofthe parts I2 and I1.

v 4 It is necessary in any event to provide spacers between the. cap I4 and chimney 8 in order to provide space for the flow of gas between-the Usually, these -spacers are rigidly fiXed'to the cap. This requires the-formation of sl-otsin the cap toreceive projections from the spacers and the protruding ends of these projections are thenheaded over to .hold the cap and spacer together. By making the spacing means separate from the cap, asaving is made of the cost of forming the slots and'the cost of heading over the projections on the spacer and, in addition, the spacingmeans may then be utilized as a temporary. support for the hold-down bolt during assembly or disassembly of the parts. The. desirable usefulness of the temporary support for the hold-downbolt may behad by a construction which actually costs less to manufacture than the described former structure which lacked themeans for supporting the hold-down bolt during mounting or demounting of the parts. And the new structure of this invention enables substantial savings. .to be effected in. the cost of assembling the parts.-

The supporting structure need not necessarily be constructed with three arms in the manner shown and described in connection with Fig. 3 although that is a very desirable way to do. This structure may,for example, consist of two arms such as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Here, the temporary support for the hold-down bolt I consists of a strip of thin sheet metal which is bent to form a central U-shaped part 28 and two arms 21 extending in opposite directions one from eachend of the part 26. The part 26 affords the same open-"ended slot'to receive the part I! of the hold-down bolt-I, and the shoulder I8 of the latter is supported by the upper edge of the part 26 in the same way as heretofore described. Suitably fixed to each arm 21, as for example by welding, are two angle brackets 28, which project laterally from the arms 21 in opposite direcwall of chimney 8 and center the U-shapedpart 26 therei'n. The ends 30 of the arms 21 engage the'inner surface of the peripheral wall of cap I 4 and center the latter with reference to the supporting structure 26, 21.

. r The particular form of strong back or cross bar '2, shown herein is made up of two strips 3| .(Fig. 2) of sheet. metal secured together, as for example .by welding at two spots as indicated'at 32 (Fig. 1) Each strip'3l, at a location centrally between its ends, isbent to provide an approximately semi-cylindrical portion 33. The twoportions 33 encompass the lower end of the shank of the hold-down bolt I, as will :be' clear from Fig. 2. The two parts 33' have oppositely located slots 34 (Fig. l), which extend therethrough and receive the head 35 of bolt I. The strong back may, however, be made in any other suitable form.

In use, the various parts of the bubble cap assembly may be mounted on the floor plate of a bubble tray by. a single operator working from a position above the tray. 7 Considering the structure shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the operator first places the gasket I0 around the upstanding wall I of. thehole 3 in floor plate, 4 and then places the lower end of a chimney 8 around the wall I with the base flange 9 resting on gasket I ll; Then, the bolt I is held by its upper end' and swung until the cross bar 2 is tilted sufiicientlyto pass down through chimney 8 and slightly below the same; The bolt is then moved into'upright position and. theupper and more narrow part of the cross bar 2 is partly inserted into hole 3; While the bolt and crossbar 2 are held thus positioned with one hand, the operator with his other'hand' moves. the. structure I3 laterally to cause the part I I of bolt I to enter slot It. The

ends of the arms I9 of this structure I 3 are then rested ontop of chimney 8 and the bolt is released and allowed to dro until its shoulder I8 rests on top of the U-shaped part I5. .The bolt I, being thus-supported, the operator puts the cap I4 in position and then applies nut I I to the threads I2 of the bolt, tightening the nut todraw the cross bar 2 upwardly and press the cap I4 downwardly against arms I9, the latter against chimney 8 and the flange 9 of the latter against gasket I0, forcing the latter against. plate 4, whereby the parts are clamped together with single bolt of T-form. This mannerof clamping the parts of a bubble cap assembly together is not new but the use-of a chimney-spanning member, such as I 3, with a central U-shaped part'such as [5, to support a shoulder, such as IS on the hold-down bolt I, while the operator applies the cap I4 and its retaining nut II, is new and very useful since it enables quick and convenient assembly of parts by a. single operator. By making the cap-spacing and supporting structure a separate from the cap, as herein shown, rather than fixed thereto as has been usual heretofore, this same structure can .be madeto serve as the temporary support for the hold-down bolt 1 by providing the U-shaped part [5 having a lateral, open-ended slot, such as [6.

It will be clear that the structure shown in Figs.

the Figs. 1 to 3 structure described; 7

This invention thus affords a simple structure,

5 and 6 will be assembled in the same manner a cost, for the purpose of temporarily supporting the hold-down bolt while the cap and retaining nut are applied thereto and preferably also this well adapted for quantity production at low unit same structure is used for'supporting the cap from and spacing it relatively to the chimney. What is claimed: V

1. In a bubble cap assembly, of the type wherein the cap; chimney and interposed spacers are clamped together and to the floor of a bubble tray by a bolt, which has a cross bar fixed to its lower end for spanning the lower end of the chimney and engaging the lower face of the floor and which has a nut on its screw-threadedupper end that extends through the cap, the improve-, ment which consists in providing on the bolt below the cap a shoulder and a member having a pluralityof arms of thin fiat sheet metal radiating from a central U-shaped portion which affords a laterally-extending slot open at one end,

said arms near their outer ends being mounted on edge onthe upper end of said chimney, said slot receiving a portion of the boltbelow said shoulder and having walls v on' opposite sides thereof underlying said shoulder,

2. The combination, as claimed in claim 1, in

which the top wall of the cap rests on the upper edges of the arms to space the cap vertically from the top of the chimney and the outer ends of the arms engage the peripheralwall of the cap to space the caphorizontally from the chimney.

of half the length of the first strip fixed at one end to said U-shaped portion and extending outwardly with a portion of its lower edge resting on the chimney at a location intermediate and angularly spaced from the two first named loca tions. 7

4.. In a bubble cap assembly, of the type wherein the cap, chimney and interposed spacers are clamped together and to the fioor'of a bubble tray by a bolt,rwhich has a crossbar fixed to its lower end for spanning the lower end of the'chimney and engaging the lower face ofthe floor and which has a nut on its screw-threaded upper end that extends through the cap, the improvement which consists in providing on the bolt below the cap a shoulder and a member supported at its ends on the upper end of the chimneyand spanning the chimney opening; said member being engaged with the chimney to hold it from lateral displacement relatively thereto and having a centrally-located slot which receives a portion of said bolt below said shoulder, extends laterally thereof and is open at one end, the walls of said slot engaging the bolt at diametrically opposite locations and at a third location between the first-named locations to center the bolt relatively to the chimney, the upper ends of said walls underlying said shoulder.

GEORGE W. PLOSSL.

- References Cited in the file of this patent 'UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 7 2,338,928 Glitsch' Jan, 11, 1944 2,488,249 -White Nov. 15, 1949 2,602,652 7 Haynes July 8, 1952 

